A worker who believes a dismissal was without cause, or that wages, benefits or separation pay have gone unpaid, does not walk straight into the labor arbitration commission. The case has to be shaped through a fixed sequence: the mandatory conciliation stage first, then the complaint, then the position-paper exchange before the labor arbiter, then, if either side is unhappy, an appeal to the Commission. Each stage has its own paperwork and its own clock, and missing any one of them can end the case before the merits are ever reached. This page lays the sequence out.

  1. Start at the Single Entry Approach conference

    The Labor Code, as amended by RA 10396, requires all issues arising from labor and employment to be subject to mandatory conciliation-mediation before the labor arbiter or the appropriate DOLE agency will entertain the case. That means the illegal-dismissal case, or the pure money claim, has to sit through a conciliation conference first and be referred out before the arbiter has any authority to receive it. Filing straight at the arbiter without the referral will get the complaint bounced back.

    Republic Act No. 10396 — Strengthening Conciliation-Mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for All Labor Cases (2013), Article 228. Read the source →

  2. Watch the three-year prescription clock on money claims

    The Labor Code sets the outer window for money claims: all money claims arising from employer-employee relations shall be filed within three (3) years from the time the cause of action accrued; otherwise they shall be forever barred. That is Article 291 of the Labor Code, and it is the period the arbiter and the Commission apply. The conciliation conference interrupts the running of the period, but a claim that has already prescribed cannot be revived by filing a Request for Assistance late in the day.

    Presidential Decree No. 442, the Labor Code of the Philippines (as originally enacted 1974, amended), Article 291. Read the source →

  3. File the verified complaint at the Regional Arbitration Branch

    After the referral is issued, the complaint is filed with the Regional Arbitration Branch that covers the workplace where the cause of action arose or where the complainant resides. Under the 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure, the complaint is a pleading alleging the cause or causes of action of the complainant, states the names and addresses of all parties, and is signed under oath with a declaration of non-forum shopping. The complaint is what opens the docket; nothing else does.

    The 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure (as amended), RULE III. Read the source →

  4. Move through mandatory conciliation and position papers

    Under Rule V of the 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure, once the case is with the labor arbiter, the parties are directed to another round of conciliation. If no settlement is reached, the arbiter orders the exchange of position papers within a period set by the arbiter, running from the date of termination of the mandatory conciliation and mediation conference. Ten (10) calendar days is the period in which position papers are commonly filed under the arbiter's order. The position papers are the substantive pleadings — evidence attached, affidavits of witnesses served as testimony — and any claim not covered by the position paper is deemed waived.

    The 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure (as amended), RULE V. Read the source →

  5. The labor arbiter decides within thirty (30) days from submission

    Under Article 217 of the Labor Code, the labor arbiter is directed to decide the case within thirty (30) calendar days after the submission of the case by the parties for decision, without extension, even in the absence of stenographic notes. The period runs from submission, not from filing of the complaint, and in practice submission means when the last responsive pleading (position paper, reply, memorandum) is filed and the case is deemed submitted for resolution. The article is what a party invokes when a decision is unduly delayed.

    Presidential Decree No. 442, the Labor Code of the Philippines (as originally enacted 1974, amended), Article 217. Read the source →

  6. Appeal to the Commission within ten (10) calendar days

    Under Rule VI of the 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure, decisions, awards, or orders of the labor arbiter are final and executory unless appealed to the Commission by any or both parties within ten (10) calendar days from receipt. That is a calendar-day reckoning, not working days, and it is jurisdictional. The appeal is perfected only when the appellant files a memorandum of appeal that states the grounds relied upon, pays the appeal fee and legal research fee, and, if the appeal is by the employer from a monetary award, posts a cash or surety bond in the amount of the monetary award. A mere notice of appeal without those requisites will not stop the running of the period.

    The 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure (as amended), RULE VI. Read the source →

  7. If the ruling is favourable and final, ask the arbiter for a writ of execution

    Under Rule XI of the 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure, a writ of execution may be issued motu proprio or on motion once a decision or order has become final and executory. If the appeal has been resolved by the Commission, the motion for execution is filed with the labor arbiter to whom the records have been remanded. A reinstatement order under Article 223 of the Labor Code is separately immediately executory even during the appeal, and the arbiter enforces that on its own timetable.

    The 2011 NLRC Rules of Procedure (as amended), RULE XI. Read the source →

Note. This page describes a procedure by reference to the issuances that create it. It is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Deadlines, offices and requirements can shift with new circulars; a lawyer reviewing your specific facts is the safer path than acting on this alone.